Clincal signs:
The affected animals usually have a fever, breathe rapidly and are generally depressed. When the lungs become more infected, these animals develop a cough and their breathing gets increasingly difficult and painful. The sick animals are usually reluctant to move. In order to relieve the pain of breathing, these animals stand with their head extended and elbows turned out. About half of the infected die within several days to a few weeks of the clinical signs appearing. The other half recover, but remain carriers of infection.
Treatment:
In non-endemic areas, treatment is rarely used as it may convert clinical cases to clinically normal carriers. The emphasis is usually on prevention and eradication of the disease. However, in endemic areas, treatment may be the only option. Sulfadimidine and tylosin are the drugs in use. Tylosin has to be injected intramuscularly every twelve hours for three days.
Control measures:
When CBPP spreads to a new area, every effort should be made to eliminate
the infection by slaughtering all the affected and in-contact animals.
In endemic areas, vaccination may be an effective option to control the
disease. Several vaccines have been developed, and the effective ones are
those based on live mycoplasma organisms. However, it is difficult to use
in practice because mycoplasma strains that are mild enough to be used
safely are usually poor to stimulate immunity, whereas those that are good
immunogens may cause severe reactions. None of the existing vaccines can
confer live-long immunity, hence, they have to be repeated each year.
Successful control of the disease should combine vaccination with other
measures. In ideal situations, all the clinical cases and carriers should
be slaughtered. However, this is too expensive and not feasible to implement
in reality. Steps must be taken to minimise the spread of the disease.
When moving cattle into a new area, tests should be carried out to detect
any infected or carrier animals which should be removed.
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